Dining in Memphis

We enjoy some true Southern dining in Memphis, starting with lunch at the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street.  We order tamales and chili, cheese fries, shrimp with cajun sauce, garlic with Texas toast, and fried chicken nuggets.

Cajun lunch

For dinner that day at McEwen's (we walk by and find the menu intriguing), we share a wedge salad, green fried tomatoes with avacado and corn relish, pulled pork sliders, duck enchiladas, and the fish special:  striped bass (not all dishes pictured, some we ate too fast).  And, of course, for desert key lime pie.

Part of dinner

Desert

We return to McEwen's the next day for a similar meal, but with Catfish.  

Catfish 

One thing we don't get to experience this trip is the barbeque - we walk by several famous places (such as Rendezvous), but are put off by the long lines and opt for something where we can get in more quickly and have a fabulous meal.

We missed out

We meet friends at the Peabody Hotel for Sunday brunch and arrive in time for the Peabody's famous duck walk to the fountain.  The ducks live in luxury in a habitat on the roof of the hotel and every day take the elevator down to the lobby (with help from the Duckmaster in pushing the floor buttons), paddle around during the day, and, several hours later, waddle back to the elevator for the ride home.  As legend has it, the tradition dates from the 1930s when the General Manager of the Peabody and his friends returned from a hunting trip and thought it would be fun for their live duck decoys to swim in the fountain (liquor was involved).  And, a tradition was born.

Duckmaster and duck parade

Ducks spending their day in the fountain

We have brunch at the Peabody and experience another true Southern delicacy:  fried chicken and waffles!

Fried chicken and waffles

And, then, all too soon, it's time to go home.

Elvis' Aircraft

Elvis owned three aircraft, a Convair 880 (purchased from Delta Air Lines), a model similar to the Boeing 707, and two Lockheed JetStar business jets.  The Convair and one of the JetStars are on display and we wander through. 

Only 62 of the Convair 880s were ever built as airlines preferred the 3-3 seating of the Boeing products to the 3-2 seating of the commercial 880s (also nowhere near as nice as Elvis' plane).

Convair 880

The inside of the Convair no longer looks like it did when Delta flew it!

Inside the Convair 880

Elvis' bedroom in the plane

Moving on to the JetStar, we find a smaller 10-passenger plane with four rear-mounted engines.  Originally designed for the military, due to budget cuts, the military never bought any and Lockheed had to refocus on the commercial market, selling two aircraft to Elvis, out of a total of 204 built.

JetStar

It's interesting and another view of the life of Elvis to see the style in which he traveled, from the extensive collection of cars and motorcycles (and a tractor) in the Graceland Entertainment Complex to the aircraft in the field next door.

Graceland Museum (Elvis' Vehicles, Clothing, and Awards)

The Graceland Entertainment Complex, across the street from the Graceland Mansion, shows us the life of Elvis over his career, with hundreds of artifacts, including his collection of gold and platinum records, his incredible jumpsuits, memorabilia from his movies, and his toys.

We start with the morotcycles and cars (which take up a lot of space).

Motorcycles

Cars

Tractor

And, we get to image ourselves as Elvis!

Pseudo-Elvis

After the autos (and AV), we stroll past Elvis' guitars, awards, and outfits.

Guitars and awards

Outfits

We're full of Elvis now, time to go outside and see what else the complex has to offer.